We have recently published our December real estate newsletter and invite you to take a look.
Each month we try to provide insight into the local and national housing market as well as some other interesting “stuff” that you might find useful or informative. Some of the topics we featured are:

- It’s A Wonderful Life
- General Overview of Maine Real Estate Market
- NAR Revises Homes Sales Downward - From 2007
- Real Estate Video - Some New Trends
- Cool Tools for Web Browsing
- Great New Video of a Spectacular Oceanfront Home

You can view the most current copy at Inside the 2007 - Maine Real Estate News and Notes. If you find it interesting, please send it to a friend or visit our Facebook page and let us know what you think.

If you have any thoughts about what we should include in the future, send us an email and we’ll try to include it.

Of course each town and city is different, and Portland is by far the largest real estate market. Yet trends can be found.

Compared to 2010 unit volume is down in nearly every community, yet pricing has appeared to stabilize. For more details you can download a copy at Monthly Newsletter.

Additional interesting features include what is proposed for the Cumberland County Civic Center, greater horror movies and ways to make your home searching more efficient.

We have focused on the Portland Maine real estate market primarily, but have also included statistics for all of Cumberland County and York County. Below is a brief summary. Additional details can be found online, at our website, at MaineHomeConnection.

Across the entire state of Maine there have been 4,218 single family home sales in 2011 compared to 5,171 during a similar period in 2010. This represents a decrease of 18%. This trend is the same when looking at southern Maine, where home sales in Cumberland County are down 16%. Sales in York County are similarly down 17%.

According to statistics provided by MRIES, inventory is also high at this time. There are a staggering 16,066 single family homes for sale in Maine. In Cumberland County there are 2,388 on the market and another 2,572 in York County.

Although this information might seem a bit grim, the percentage of property under contract has improved slightly. At the end of June 13% of all single family homes were “pending”. This ratio is even better for both York and Cumberland Counties at 15% and 19 % respectively.

Link to Maine Real Estate Sales Results

You can access all local southern Maine home sales by city and town. A good place to start is at our Local Communities page. From there you can link to any neighborhood that is of interest to you. Details are included by single family, condo, multi-family and land.

If you are selling in this market, it is important to keep in mind that there is an enormous level of competition and within every price range there are a limited number of buyers. This is especially true today, and it has been this way for the last several years – and will be for the foreseeable future.

In most cases people find this surprising, especially given all the negative news out and about. But, it is important to keep in mind that 2009 was one of the worst years on record in Maine and that the inventory of homes on the market is still high. In fact, there are currently 11 months of inventory available, and this rate has remained unchanged for the last six months or so. Also of concern is the fact that the number of homes “pending” has dropped compared to 2009, which is indicative of a slower 4th quarter.

Closer to home, using the city of Portland as a more focused example, 321 homes have sold so far in 2010 at a median price of $220,000. In 2009 318 homes were sold at a median price of $215,000 - very small increases. Like Cumberland County, the inventory is high and properties under contract are below 2009 rates.

According to the listing from CBRE/The Boulos Company, the commercially zoned land abuts the racetrack and has frontage on Route 1, Haigis Parkway and Payne Road. In a statement from Andrew Ingalls, of CBRE, the sale is not related to the racetrack interest in operating a racino in Biddeford. That is separate and a proposal is schedule to go before voters in November of this year.

Scarborough Downs has pushed for slot machines at its facility, saying it needs other gambling revenue to support its overall financial situation. In 2008 in Scarborough defeated a referendum to allow the racino.

The property is currently zoned for most business use, but changes in zoning could be envisioned to conform to Scarborough’s comprehensive plan, which features a village environment.

The comprehensive plan envisions mixed-use development in the area, blending housing and “community-scale” retail and services, while specifically discouraging shopping centers and big-box retailers.

Scarborough Downs had proposed building a 235-acre retail and office development on that property using slot machine revenues if voters approved the measure.

Additionally, an entertainment group that wants to build an amphitheater has shown interest in the property, but Ingalls told the Portland Press Herald, in the same interview, that its verbal offer was too low.

The Senate agreed today to extend the closing date for buyers who had put homes under contract by 4/30/2010. Initially the closing date needed to be 6/30/10. The primary reason for the extension is the large numbers of short sale transactions.

The extension to close and still be able to claim the tax credit has been pushed to 9/30/10.

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This blog dates back several years as well.

Recently we have introduced a new blog attached to our website. This new blog focuses on Portland Maine, and the communities of Cumberland County. It includes news features, real estate articles, and current community events.

If you have a chance please stop by and join in.

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In addition to several excellent properties we are featuring, you will find some interesting stories about how homebuilders across the nation are viewing today’s economy.

There is also some great news about Portland’s cruise ship schedule for this some and some suggestions regarding online privacy.

The Maine real estate market has shown signs of improvement during the first quarter of 2010, and the latest statistics are included as well. Home sales are up and pricing has shown some signs of improvement.

Our Newsletter is published each month and you can view a complete archive of past issues, along with other videos and articles, on our website.

At any time if you have suggestions about future articles or videos you would like to see, please don’t hesitate to send us an email. We try hard to stay away from “how to pick paint colors” type of content. That kind of stuff is available at more traditional real estate sites.

Thanks for your support.

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For one day only over 500 properties throughout the state of Maine will be open to the public. Details of what properties can be viewed are easily accessed online at Maine Open House.

During this all day event not only will you be able to visit many beautiful homes, visitors will be able to enter a drawing for roundtrip airfare and 2 night hotel accommodations for several great destinations.

Hope to see you there!

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The facility includes 23 oil tanks and a capacity of 3.5 million barrels of crude oil. The oil is then pumped through two separate pipelines which cross the mountains of New Hampshire and Vermont and eventually extend to Montreal.

Portland Harbor Oil Tankers Unloading

It takes between 36-43 hours for the oil to reach its destination where it is processed in one of two refineries.

The pipeline extends 236 miles below ground level.

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